The invention relates to a soil preparation device for use with a planter row unit in no-till farming.
A planter as used in no-till farming comprises a number of row units to simultaneously plant multiple rows of crops. This type of planter row unit typically has a front face, a furrow opener (i.e. discs) to the rear of the front face for opening a furrow in the soil, a seed dispenser (i.e. seed hopper and seed tube) for dropping seed into the furrow, and a furrow closer (i.e. closing wheels) to the rear of the furrow opener and seed dispenser for closing the furrow to thereby cover the seed with soil.
A coulter blade is commonly mounted to the front face of the planter row unit for breaking up a top layer of soil in preparation for planting. However, the coulter blade aggressively breaks up a narrow (i.e. about 1 inch wide) band of soil so as to form a groove therein, and tends to throw at least some of the desirably dry and frangible soil from the above-mentioned top layer outside the path of the planter row unit. consequently, such desirable soil is lost for use in planting, making it more difficult for the row unit to close the furrow with soil which tends to be moist and more compacted. It is important to properly cover the seed with soil to ensure germination and to protect the seed from birds and insects.